Cutting County GIS Coordinator and other Government GIS News

Three positions in the Anderson County Zoning and Public Works Department [TN] have been eliminated, a restructuring expected to save more than $102,000 annually, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank announced Monday.

The position of planner has been phased out, she said. That work will be done through a contract with East Tennessee Development District.

Also dropped will be the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) coordinator's job. Those mapping services will be provided through a cooperative agreement between the offices of mayor and property assessor. The county's property assessor already has an "accomplished GIS coordinator," Frank said.

I wonder if the coordinator title is in fact more that a GIS tech. I could see zoning and public works having a coordinator, who is perhaps the GIS coordinator for the couty, but wonder if an assessor would really have someone at that level.

The only thing weid about the Cobb County, GA parcel and zoing apps for iOS and Android are that there's a QR code to access them on the webpage. Maybe I have it wrong, but I thought the point fo a QR code was to have it in the real world (on a product package or a movie poster) to access more info on a mobile device. The idea of a scanning a QR code on a computer screen with a phone seems a curious use. The apps use ArcGIS Online + Silverlight.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a new online map (Leaflet, Mapbox, OSM) that shows private land avialble ot the public for hiking, fishing and hunting in return for owners getting a tax break. To date no such map has been available and the land owners participating have pretty much not had to make the land available. An invstigation by a Pulitzer prize winner helped gather the data and now outdoorspeople have land owner contact information and can if all goes well use the land!

The Franklin County GIS Consortium [Alabama] was honored during Monday’s Franklin County Commission meeting for developing a website and implementing a GIS program that links as many as 14 county agencies together.

It seems the consortium was honored because it was honored by Esri with a SAG award. In particular, the system aided in response to the April 27, 2011, tornado. Someone from Esri addressed the team at the meeting. I wonder if it would have been more valuable/educational for county leaders to do actual research to understand what the GIS is and how it works and address the team and other county officials.